The commonly assigned U.S. patent application entitled “Vehicle Active Network,” Ser. No. 09/945,581, filed Aug. 31, 2001, Publication Number US 20030043793, the disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference, introduces the concept of an active network that includes a switch fabric. The switch fabric is a web of interconnected switching devices or nodes. The switching device or nodes are joined by communication links for the transmission of data packets between the switching devices or nodes. Control devices, sensors, actuators and the like are coupled to the switch fabric, and the switch fabric facilitates communication between these coupled devices.
The coupled devices may be indicator lights, vehicle control systems, vehicle safety systems, and comfort and convenience systems. A command to actuate a device or devices may be generated by a control element coupled to the switch fabric and is communicated to the device or devices via the switch fabric nodes.
In the context of vehicular switch fabric networks, a challenge is presented in terms of connecting the switch fabric network to standard or legacy bus architectures such as the Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol, the SAE J1850 Communications Standard, the Local Interconnect Network (LIN) protocol, the FLEXRAY Communications System Standard, the Media Oriented Systems Transport or MOST Protocol, or similar bus structures. A need exists for switch fabric networks to operate seamlessly with the standard bus architectures and for switch fabric networks to handle message protocols associated with these standard bus architectures.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a system and method to overcome or minimize most, if not all, of the preceding problems especially in the area of tunneling standard bus protocols across the nodes in an automotive switch fabric network.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.